(SportsNetwork.com) - The Boston Bruins will try to defeat the Carolina Hurricanes for the second time in less than a week as the clubs meet for a rematch on Saturday afternoon in Beantown.
The Bruins visited the Hurricanes on Monday and posted a 4-1 win, getting 23 saves from Tuukka Rask as well as a goal and an assist from both Reilly Smith and Carl Soderberg.
It was Boston's third victory in its past four meetings with Carolina and it has won six of the previous nine encounters at home.
The Bruins made it two victories in a row and improved to 6-1 in their last seven with a triumph over the New York Rangers on Tuesday, but were bested in a shootout versus the St. Louis Blues on Thursday.
Soderberg and Gregory Campbell scored in regulation and Rask made 24 saves through overtime in the 3-2 loss.
"I thought it was a real fun game to watch," Boston coach Claude Julien said. "Everything, from my end, except for that extra point that I thought we should have had."
The Bruins played on Thursday without defensemen Dennis Seidenberg and Adam McQuaid. The former is day-to-day due to a lower-body ailment, while McQuaid missed his sixth game in a row with a hip/groin injury but could return for this contest.
Rask is likely to start on Saturday. He is 4-3-0 with a 2.41 goals against average versus the Hurricanes in eight career meetings (7 starts).
After missing 10 straight games due to a lower-body injury, Cam Ward returned to action in Monday's loss to the Bruins, giving up three goals on 29 shots. Tuomo Ruutu had Carolina's lone goal.
Despite Ward's return to health, Justin Peters got the start on Thursday versus Detroit and made 43 saves in a 4-3 setback.
Andrej Sekera scored twice and Brett Bellemore also lit the lamp for the Hurricanes, who have dropped their past three games.
"It's a little hard to come back when you're playing a team like this in their building," said Sekera. "Once they got that first one to take the lead, then the second one, we knew we had a big hole to climb out of."
Bellemore's goal was the first of his career. The defenseman was playing in his 18th game this season and 26th of his career, but couldn't stop the Hurricanes from dropping a fifth straight game on the road.
Though Alexander Semin missed his second straight game with a concussion, Jeff Skinner returned to the lineup. The forward had been out for the previous 11 games with an upper-body injury.
Ward fell to 12-12-2 with a 2.62 GAA and three shutouts in 26 matchups with the Bruins, while Peters is 1-0-0 against them with a 4.64 GAA in three games (2 starts).
Both goaltenders could see work this weekend with the 'Canes scheduled to host the Ottawa Senators on Sunday.
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